Boy hurt after falling out of truck

A 12-year-old boy was airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center after he fell out of a truck on Grizzly Flat Road on June 29.

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A group of people had been helping the boy’s mother move, CHP Officer David Ridge said, when the boy fell out of the back of a 1983 Toyota pickup truck driven by Robert Roser, 25, of Grizzly Flat.

Upon seeing the boy fall out, another member of the caravan stopped to let his wife check on the boy and caught up with Roser to tell him what happened; Roser had not noticed the boy fell out. Roser, the witness told CHP, had been going about 45 mph. According to Vehicle Code Section 23116, it is illegal to ride in the back of a pickup truck without a restraint system.

Roser returned to the scene, swearing at the boy and saying, “I told you if you couldn’t f-ing hold on, let me know,” according to the witness. The witness then told Roser he should leave. The boy’s mother told Roser to get her 19-year-old son. Roser did so, but then fled the scene.

El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched with CHP to Roser’s father’s house. Mark Roser related to deputies that he did not know where his son was, Ridge said. An officer “compelled the father to retrieve his son,” Ridge said. They would be holding the truck — registered under Mark Roser’s name — as evidence unless the father retrieved his son. Mark Roser told them he would find his son.

The elder Roser brought his son back to the scene of the crime, where he was arrested. Robert Roser, as of July 3, was being held at the county jail on charges of felony hit-and-run resulting in injury with an enhancement of being on misdemeanor probation and a violation of probation. His bail was listed as $65,000.

Sgt. Dan Johnson said that Gary Thomas, 45, of Fair Play, was arrested in connection with the incident on charges of harboring a fugitive and obstructing justice. He has since been released from jail.

The 12-year-old boy was airlifted by CalStar to UC David Medical Center. He was, according to Ridge, in stable condition with major injuries.